Holding and draining rack.



No. 776,332. PATENTED NOV. 29, 1904 M. 0. KLOEPPINGER. HOLDING AND. DRAINING' RACK.

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WITNESSES: INVENTOR =%Z/LL'ZQ5Z/ Joe winger Y Wan lUirn' Srarns Patented November 29, 1904:.

rrrcnt HOLDING AND DRAINING RACK- SPEGIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 776,332, dated November 29, 1904:. Application filed January 12, 1904;. Serial No. 188,694. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MATHILDA C. KLOEP- FINGER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Holding and Draining Racks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a means which is primarily intended for holding and draining the accessories of a nursery,which the law of sanitation and the healthfulness of an infant child require should be preserved with the utmost cleanliness; and my invention consists of the construction and combination of parts forming the improved device, which I will hereinafter describe and claim.

In the accompanying drawing,forming part" of this specification, the figure represents a perspective view of a nursery-rack constructed according to myinvention.

The proper washing and subsequent draining of the bottles, nipples, and other accessories of the nursery are recognized by the medical world as of the utmost importance to the health of very young children, especially those who must depend upon artificial foods for preserving life. Therefore I have devised a means which is primarily intended as a holder and draining-rack for the articles named and which will serve not only to drain the bottles, nipples, &c., but will furnish a convenient holder where the bottles and nippies, &c., may be found ready for use at any time and where the implements necessary for cleaning and filling the bottles may also be gathered.

In constructing my holder and drain-rack I prefer to make the body portion A of a shallow pan-like form of any desired design to provide a relatively wide trough bounded by front and rear walls and appropriate ends and with the bottom of the trough of sufficient width between the front and back walls to form a flat tubular surface upon which the bottles may be supported While being filled. Along the back and near the upper edge thereof and sufficiently removed above the bottom to give a good working space below is a row of hook-like projections B, which are substantially vertically disposed and which are designed to support the usual glass nursing-bottles, as shown at a, or the usual rub beiwnipples, as shown at t. In the drawing I have a double series of hooks with the hook of one series smaller than those of the other series. The hooks of each series may come spend in number, thus providing a support for as many nipples as there are bottles, whereby each bottle may be supplied with a clean nipple whenever desired. The bottles after being washed are placed upon the larger or longer hooks with their mouths downward, and any water remaining after the washing process will flow from the open end. of the bottles and will be collected in the draintrough below formed by the bottom and surrounding-walls, and the nipples after being cleansed are placed open end downward upon the smaller or shorter hooks and also allowed to drain and deliver their drip into the trough.

To facilitate the ready suspension of the de vice upon a wall, partition, or like surface I construct the said device with a back strip (l of Wood, which strip extends nearly or quite the length of the rack and furnishes means by which the'device may be readily and detachably suspended. Ordinarily in hanging brackets and analogous devices it is diflicult to form holes in the device at the proper points be cause of the difiiculty in matching these holes With the wall-studding to which the device should be attached in asecure manner, and to meet the above objection I employ as an attachment to my holder and rack the aforesaid back strip, which is provided with forwardlyprojecting pins (Z, adapted to enter holes in the back wall of the rack, said holes being adapted to receive the heads of the pins and having contracted or narrowed extensions into Which are passed the shanks of the pins to securely hold the device in position. By using the back board and making it readily detachable from the rack proper I am enabled to nail this board at any proper point between its ends to the wall-studding, and then the rack is readily attached to the board by passing the heads of the pins through the holes and then allowing the rack to move vertically until the shanks of said pins enter the narrowed portions of the extensions of the holes. On the front wall of the trough portion I also provide another series of hooks, E, upon which are hung such devices as a brush 6 for assisting the cleaning of the bottles and nipples and a cup f and funnel g, by which said bottles may be filled, thereby providing with a convenient and readily-accessible group those implements which are essential in washing and filling the nursing-bottles.

In actual practice the width of the trough, which has a flat bottom, is only slightly in excess of the major cross-sectional diameter of the usual nursing-bottle, and the distance between the hooks is such that when the bottle is to be filled its bottom will rest upon the bottom of the trough, and the neck of said bottle will extend up through the space between two adjacent hooks, and which space is sufficiently restricted to prevent the bottle being tilted enough to cause it to tip over sidewise and spill the contents, while the front and back walls of the trough guard against the tilting of the bottle in front and rear directions. This relative arrangement of the front and back walls of the trough plus the width of the spaces between the hooks forms a means for holding the bottle while being filled from accidental overturning.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A combined holder and rack adapted essentiallyfor nursing-bottles, nipples and nursery accessories and including a shallow trough with front and rear walls and a flat bottom adapted to support the bottle in an upright position, and a series of spaced projections above the bottom and between a pair of which the neck of the bottle extends and is allowed but a limited side movement.

2. In a holder and rack for nursery accessories the combination of a shallow trough having a bottom upon which a bottle may be supported in an upright position, a series of hook-like projections above the bottom and spaced from each other to allow the neck of the upright bottle to pass between adjacent projections said projections adapted, also, to support the bottle in an inverted position for draining, a corresponding series of smaller hook like projections adapted to support nursing-nipples, and means upon the outer wall of the trough adapted to support bottle filling and cleaning implements.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

MATHILDA C. KLOEPPINGER.

WVitnesses:

G. W. FOWLER, T. W. FOWLER. 

